Main Menu

DogScooter promotes the dog driving sports of dog scootering, bikejoring and sulky driving by providing free information and selling scooters, gear, videos, and books. We are closely allied with ChaloSulkies.com, who offers sulkies, harnesses, and carting supplies. We support
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, the K9Scooters NW club and Dogs Across America, an annual national relay.

We sell scooters manufactured by three different companies: Torker, Blauwerk and Diggler. They range in price and quality from entry level to professional. We test these products with out own dogs.

Our sales people are self-selected; they run dogs and want to see more dog drivers in their region.

Now, with the power of the internet to spread the work, more and more people are exercising their dogs with scooters. Soon dog walkers and dog trainers will use scooters and sulkies as required tools of their trade.

History

The idea for DogScooter began in 1995 when Daphne Lewis moved from her bamboo nursery in the country to the city of Seattle. How to exercise her beautiful rottweiler, Rubromarginata? After a few months of roller blades, the idea that brakes would help showed up. Then, a few months of patrolling past the thrift store and a scooter showed up. Scooter obsession occurred. Daphne thought she had invented a new sport. Soon she found out that scooter racing was an established sport in Europe, New Zealand and Australia with formal races and international titles.

In 1997, after Daphne wrote and printed "My Dog Likes to Run, I Like to Ride", the idea of a business selling scooters showed up. "If Rubro and I like it, other people and dogs will, too". Unfortunately, Daphne could not find any scooters to sell. In 2000, DogScooter began when Lewis imported Jones scooters from Australia and opened a checking account! After a few years, Daphne was able to find other manufacturers: Torker, Blauwerk and Diggler. Gradually people heard of the sport of Dog Scootering. Pet owners found a fun way to exercise their dogs. Mushers began to embrace dry land racing and accepted scooters as training machines for their lead dogs.

In 2003, Dave Ryan stumbled upon dog-powered sports while desperately looking for a better way to exercise his late wife’s dog. Chester, the once-sweet springer spaniel, had turned sullen and occasionally snapped at people. Dave eventually discovered dogscootering, and the combination of exercise and commands returned Chester to his happy self. Through the dogslovetorun Yahoo egroup he became friends with Daphne Lewis.

Fast forward to 2008. Daphne wants to concentrate on producing sulkies and raising bamboo. She asks Dave to take over Dogscooter.com so that she can start Chalosulkies.com and raise bamboo in Florida. Encouraged by his girlfriend Shirley, Dave agreed, and with the start of 2009, Dogscooter.com moved to Collegeville, PA.

About Dave Ryan

By day a chemist with degrees in Chemistry and Environmental Science, and a micro-musher on evenings, weekends, and vacations. I teach classes in dogscootering and promote the sport as much as possible. I live in southeastern Pennsylvania, where we have an extensive network of trails. With my springer spaniel Chester, I am often seen rollerblading on the Schuylkill River trail, bikejoring on the Perkiomen trail, or, when it snows, skijoring in Valley Forge Park. And I coordinate the Dogs Across America run for Pennsylvania.

I volunteer to train friend’s dogs so that Chester has a pulling partner. Chester and Nicky (a golden retriever) make a great team pulling a scooter – as long as they can have a swim break in the stream!

An amateur welder and amateur bike mechanic, I have built a few scooters from the plans posted on dogscooter.com. I was a volunteer fireman and Emergency Medical Technician for many years in my younger days. The combination comes in handy when you’re out scootering with some adrenaline junkies – the ability to patch bikes, scooters or people enough to get back home!